Sheriff Duane Lewis says it happened about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Moncks Corner when a motorist came to a checkpoint, knocked down some traffic cones and sped off.

Lewis said he didn’t know at the time what the subject told the officers, but he said there was some indication by the subject that the officers were in danger, CBS affiliate WCSC-TV reports.

“His actions placed the officers in danger,” Lewis said. “The Moncks Corner police called the sheriff’s office for assistance and we responded and picked up the chase on Old Highway 52.”

The sheriff says when deputies finally caught up with the driver a few miles away he pointed a gun at deputies and started shooting. The sheriff says the deputies shot back, wounding the man who was taken to the hospital, where he later died.

No deputies were wounded, but the sheriff says that four deputies have been placed on administrative leave.

The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating. The coroner says an autopsy is scheduled.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is taking every precaution in ordering a massive evacuation. To reduce delays, state troopers reversed all of the interstate’s east-bound lanes, creating a one-way, six-lane freeway that stretches more than 100 miles from Charleston to Columbia. That’s in addition to South Carolina’s established network of hurricane evacuation routes.